8 
[Senate 
that one hundred and eleven copies of the first six volumes have been 
delivered to members of the Legislature of 1842, under the law 
above mentioned. There will thus necessarily be some broken sets. 
There have been delivered to the booksellers named in said contract, 
about 220 copies of each of the first six volumes, to be sold, and they 
have been, or probably will be sold at four dollars a copy. The pur- 
chasers of those copies have an undoubted right to an opportunity to 
purchase the remaining volumes of the whole series at the same 
price 3 and the undersigned thinks that that number of copies should 
be reserved for them. 
In view of the very great and unexpected expense and cost of this 
work, and of its intrinsic value, the undersigned considers the price 
put upon the copies by the law of last year as too low. He feels 
the full force of the policy, under the influence of which the Legis- 
lature was induced to fix the price at so small a sum ; that is to say, 
that the benefits and advantages of possessing the work w^ill be in a 
great measure limited to our own citizens and the institutions of our 
own State. Yet still as the State can little afford to be so generous 
at this time, even to her own citizens and institutions, the undersigned 
recommends that 'the law of last winter be altered, so as to fix the 
price at two dollars per copy.^ 
He also recommends the passing of a law directing the Governor 
and Secretary of State to -put an end to the said agreement with the 
booksellers, by giving the notice therein mentioned, unless the same 
can be cancelled by mutual consent', and for retaining the necessary 
number of the volumes not sold by said booksellers, to enable the 
purchasers of those sold by them to complete their sets. 
It should be further added that the State is in possession of a large 
and valuable collection of geological and mineralogical specimens, 
which are deposited in the old State Hall ; and which in connexion 
with the Natural History, will furnish a vast fund of information for 
those who desire improvement in these branches of science. 
JOHN PORTER. 
